Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi on Thursday stayed firm on blocking a planned extension of the EU’s economic sanctions against Russia, forcing EU governments to discuss the issue at a much higher level next week.
Sanctions were set to be extended on Wednesday, but that did not happen after the Italian government instructed its ambassador to raise objections during a closed-door meeting of EU countries’ delegates, which was supposed to approve the extension without much political noise.
On Thursday, the 28 EU ambassadors met again, but the delicate topic was not put to vote for a second time as Italy signaled it …read more
Source: European Voice
